Franz Kafka's 1912 novella "The Metamorphosis" provides an analogy for a consideration of the process of teacher identity formation and performance. Gregor Samsa awoke to find himself transformed into a giant beetle. He faced a complete loss of identity as he lost connection with the micro-political space that formed the context of his former role performances. Teachers face an analogous situation. Within the context of institutional role scripts and political influences, do teachers choose to become determined by outside forces rendering them incapable of change? Do they forfeit their rights and responsibilities within society? Or, do teachers, through positive action within discursive practices, express their freedom and their self-consciousness by recognizing their ethical responsibility to serve society? G.W.F. Hegel provides a framework within which to consider the potential responses to these questions. Teachers have a choice to make: surrender or act. An examination of the development of teacher identity is presented utilizing the lens of Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" and G.W.F. Hegel's "The Phenomenology of Mind".